James Tate was born in Kansas City, Missouri in the year of 1943. His father was a pilot in World War II, but he was killed when Tate was five months old. Twenty-three years later, in 1963, Tate published his first poetry book (The Lost Pilot). It was included in the Yale Series for Younger Poets, making Tate the youngest poet ever to receive such an honor. It influenced many poets in the sixties and the seventies. Including 'The Lost Pilot', he has published 12 poetry books over the course of his years.
Tate has won many awards for his poetry over the years. Some of them are the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Poetry, a 1995 Tanning Prize, and a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Some of the more notable awards that Tate has received are the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was also elected Chancellor of the Academy of Poets in 2001.
Thinking Ahead to Possible Options And A Worst-Case Scenario I swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel in the center of the road and that's when the deer came charging out of the forest and forced me to hit the brakes for all I was worth and I careened back to the other side of the road just as a skunk came toddling out of Mrs. Bancroft's front yard and I swung back perhaps just grazing it a bit. I glanced quickly in the rearview mirror and in that instant a groundhog waddled from the side of the road and I zigzagged madly and don't know if I nipped it or not because up ahead I could see a coyote stalking the Collier's cat. Oh well, I said, and drove the rest of the way home without incident.
The Lost Pilot for my father, 1922-1944
Your face did not rot
like the others--the co-pilot,
for example, I saw him
yesterday. His face is corn-
mush: his wife and daughter,
the poor ignorant people, stare
as if he will compose soon.
He was more wronged than Job.
But your face did not rot
like the others--it grew dark,
and hard like ebony;
the features progressed in their
distinction. If I could cajole
you to come back for an evening,
down from your compulsive
orbiting, I would touch you,
read your face as Dallas,
your hoodlum gunner, now,
with the blistered eyes, reads
his braille editions. I would
touch your face as a disinterested
scholar touches an original page.
However frightening, I would
discover you, and I would not
turn you in; I would not make
you face your wife, or Dallas,
or the co-pilot, Jim. You
could return to your crazy
orbiting, and I would not try
to fully understand what
it means to you. All I know
is this: when I see you,
as I have seen you at least
once every year of my life,
spin across the wilds of the sky
like a tiny, African god,
I feel dead. I feel as if I were
the residue of a stranger's life,
that I should pursue you.
My head cocked toward the sky,
I cannot get off the ground,
and, you, passing over again,
fast, perfect, and unwilling
to tell me that you are doing
well, or that it was mistake
that placed you in that world,
and me in this; or that misfortune
placed these worlds in us.
James Tate
(December 8th, 1943)
James Tate was born in Kansas City, Missouri in the year of 1943. His father was a pilot in World War II, but he was killed when Tate was five months old. Twenty-three years later, in 1963, Tate published his first poetry book (The Lost Pilot). It was included in the Yale Series for Younger Poets, making Tate the youngest poet ever to receive such an honor. It influenced many poets in the sixties and the seventies. Including 'The Lost Pilot', he has published 12 poetry books over the course of his years.
Tate has won many awards for his poetry over the years. Some of them are the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Poetry, a 1995 Tanning Prize, and a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Some of the more notable awards that Tate has received are the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was also elected Chancellor of the Academy of Poets in 2001.
Thinking Ahead to Possible Options And A Worst-Case Scenario
I swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel
in the center of the road and that's when
the deer came charging out of the forest
and forced me to hit the brakes for all I
was worth and I careened back to the other
side of the road just as a skunk came toddling
out of Mrs. Bancroft's front yard and I swung
back perhaps just grazing it a bit. I glanced
quickly in the rearview mirror and in that
instant a groundhog waddled from the side
of the road and I zigzagged madly and don't
know if I nipped it or not because up ahead I
could see a coyote stalking the Collier's
cat. Oh well, I said, and drove the rest
of the way home without incident.
The Lost Pilot
for my father, 1922-1944
Your face did not rot
like the others--the co-pilot,
for example, I saw him
yesterday. His face is corn-
mush: his wife and daughter,
the poor ignorant people, stare
as if he will compose soon.
He was more wronged than Job.
But your face did not rot
like the others--it grew dark,
and hard like ebony;
the features progressed in their
distinction. If I could cajole
you to come back for an evening,
down from your compulsive
orbiting, I would touch you,
read your face as Dallas,
your hoodlum gunner, now,
with the blistered eyes, reads
his braille editions. I would
touch your face as a disinterested
scholar touches an original page.
However frightening, I would
discover you, and I would not
turn you in; I would not make
you face your wife, or Dallas,
or the co-pilot, Jim. You
could return to your crazy
orbiting, and I would not try
to fully understand what
it means to you. All I know
is this: when I see you,
as I have seen you at least
once every year of my life,
spin across the wilds of the sky
like a tiny, African god,
I feel dead. I feel as if I were
the residue of a stranger's life,
that I should pursue you.
My head cocked toward the sky,
I cannot get off the ground,
and, you, passing over again,
fast, perfect, and unwilling
to tell me that you are doing
well, or that it was mistake
that placed you in that world,
and me in this; or that misfortune
placed these worlds in us.